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Talk:Oz/Relationships/@comment-141.135.89.9-20141026052813/@comment-153.130.73.83-20150328080315
Oz doesn't like Alice in that way, or, at least, he seems really put off at the idea of having a romantic and/or sexual relationship with Alice and doesn't want to view their relationship in that way. In the story "Hello Baby" from the Caucus Race 2 light novel (the light novels may not be written by Mochizuki-sensei, but they are canon - moments from Ada and Vincent's date in Caucus Race 3's "An Ordinary Date" are shown and referenced to in the manga), when Alice states she has a request, Oz initially agrees. Alices ends up requesting that he "makes a baby" with her, and Oz freaks out (not necessarily at the idea of having a kid, but that the request came from Alice, though he does seem not yet ready to have a "lover" anyway). He thinks about how there isn't an issue with being able to do the act or with the fact that, if he had to chose between "not liking" and "liking" Alice, he would, of course, say that he liked her. But then he goes "Nononono!" and thinks 'Our relationship shouldn't be like that.' (自分たちの関係は、そんなものじゃないはずで。) This is on pages 149 and 150. Nothing in the series really indicates that Oz has romantic and/or sexual feelings for Alice, just that he cares for her deeply. The sense I always got from the Oz and Alice relationship was one of a deep platonic friendship, perhaps even a familial type of love, and the added element of Oz having been Alice's stuffed rabbit plush 100 years ago implies this other element of Oz being a protector of Alice (like how a teddy bear is viewed as a protector against all the creepy and scary monsters to a small child). He is the precious stuffed rabbit of Alice and Alyss. But not only does Oz not view Alice in a non-platonic way, the manga never confirms it either. As for Alice's feelings for Oz - the kiss they share at the beginning is purely contractual. Alice has been shown to not have much interest or knowledge in romance or sexual things (in Hello Baby Gil basically has to explain the birds and the bees to Alice and fails miserably) and while she does view Oz as being something precious to her. Alyss does as well, they both view Oz as their precious stuffed rabbit doll, protector, and friend. Alice does say that she "likes/loves" Oz, but she uses 好き(suki), which can be used to say that you romantically like someone, but it can also be used between family, friends, and towards things or activities that you like/love to do. It would have been different if she had Alice say 愛してる (aishiteru), which means "I love you" and only has a romantic connotation to it. In everyday, spoken Japanese this phrase is rarely used, however, the phrase is often used in anime and manga, so if Mochizuki-sensei really wanted to bring home the fact that Alice romantically liked Oz, I think she would have had Alice use that phrase instead. In the end, we get a lot of ship teasing with Oz (ship teasing with him and Alice, ship teasing with him and Echo, ship teasing with him and Gil, etc. etc.), but none of them ever move beyond that.